Jose Antonio Aguirre

Jose Antonio Aguirre (6 March 1904-22 March 1960) was President of the Basque Country from 7 October 1936 to 22 March 1960, preceding Jesus Maria de Leizaola. He was a member of the Basque Nationalist Party.

Biography
Jose Antonio Aguirre was born in Bilbao, Spain on 6 March 1904, and he studied law at the University of Deusto. He became owner of Spain's second-largest chocolate company, Chocolates Aguirre, and he introduced progressive reforms such as free healthcare and paid holidays for workers. While working as a lawyer and an advocate for lower-class rights, Aguirre joined the Basque Nationalist Party, and he ensured that non-Basque Country residents could be incorporated into the party after 1932. In 1936, he became the president of a devolved Basque government, and he formed a coalition government with nationalists, socialists, communists, and other republicans, and Aguirrre and the 100,000-strong Basque army sided with the Spanish Second Republic during the Spanish Civil War. In June 1937, the Falange rebels broke through the Iron Ring of Bilbao and forced the Republicans to surrender. He fled the country after the war and fled to Paris, Berlin, Sweden, Brazil, and New York City, and he died in exile in Paris in 1960.